Radionic Non-uniform Black Strings

Non-uniform black strings in the two-brane system are investigated using the effective action approach. It is shown that the radion acts as a non-trivial hair of the black strings. From the brane point of view, the black string appears as the deformed dilatonic black hole which becomes dilatonic black hole in the single brane limit and reduces to the Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole in the close limit of two-branes. The stability of solutions is demonstrated using the catastrophe theory. From the bulk point of view, the black strings are proved to be non-uniform. Nevertheless, the zeroth law of black hole thermodynamics still holds.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Marked for Success: Secondary School Performance and University Achievement in Biology

Building on Shulruf, Hattie and Tumen (2008), this work examines the capacity of various National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA)-derived models to predict first-year performance in Biological Sciences at a New Zealand university. We compared three models: (1) the ‘best-80’ indicator as used by several New Zealand universities as a predictor of grade point average (GPA); (2) the ‘best-80’ as a predictor of outcome grade in biology courses and (3) ‘domain status’ in biology and chemistry as a predictor of outcome grade. These models span quantity, quality and competency measures in examining student performance and success at both university-wide and specific disciplinary levels. Results show that the models explain between 25 and 45% of the variance, which may present challenges if one of these models were to become the sole determinant for enrolment and limitation of entry policies, but can be useful in an advisory capacity

Using institutional research data on tertiary performance to inform departmental advice to secondary students

This article examines the use of institutional research data on tertiary academic success of students in the first-year Biology program at the University of Canterbury in relation to their secondary school performance in English, Mathematics with Statistics, Biology and Chemistry. This study was commissioned by the School of Biological Sciences to examine the validity of the advice they gave to secondary students considering studying biology at university and was carried out as a joint venture between institutional researchers and departmental academics. We found that students with higher overall first-year university biology performance were more likely to also have taken Chemistry at secondary school. Controlling for overall performance, students taking both Chemistry and Biology as domains for the New Zealand University Entrance qualification (UE) did significantly better in two out of three first-year biology courses than those who had taken only one or neither subject as a domain. The extent of the advantage depended on the type of course; being greatest in the biochemistry-related course and least in ecology-related. We concluded that the advice the School of Biological Sciences had been giving students in secondary school as to the best preparation for (firstyear) university studies in biology (emphasising the need to take both the subjects of Biology and Chemistry) was consistent with the institutional performance data of first-year students at university

Developing evidence for action on the postgraduate experience: An effective local instrument to move beyond benchmarking

Summative and benchmarking surveys to measure the postgraduate student research experience are well reported in the literature. While useful, we argue that local instruments that provide formative resources with an academic development focus are also required. If higher education institutions are to move beyond the identification of issues and benchmarking practices, the scope of survey results and their reporting need to enable and foster appropriate changes in disciplinary practices. Robust, locally developed instruments can provide detailed, programme-specific information and foster timely changes in practice with direct benefits for postgraduate respondents. Unlike benchmarked surveys, local tools can adapt to explore and examine specific concerns of students, supervisors and academic developers. Coupling high-response rates and follow-on engagement with participant feedback, well-designed local instruments provide clear and irrefutable indicators to programme and university administrators of specific disciplinary strengths and weaknesses in postgraduate pathways. In this paper, we discuss the development of a research student survey specifically designed to support academic development purposes in strengthening and enhancing the postgraduate experience